Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

It sounds like Windows Mobile 7 has been built from scratch. I think that is a good thing interms of stability and speed, but we have to start over in developing apps lol. From the engaget article it sounds like 7 is still in a very early stage, which means we probably will not get a very good look at WMC in a month, and makes a 2010 launch seem unlikely :angry7:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/17/e...ime-incompati/

but on the bright side I read another article recently stating that HTC had a large part in developing WM7, which to me sounds epic :headbang:

let me know what you guys think about the rebuilt from scratch vs no old apps reality (im pro rebuilt from scratch atm)


edit: sorry, forgot to update this post. it seems that the day after I posted this the rumor began to shift to WM7 being able to run apps that were wvga. they apparently give some sort of security warning, but run none the less. (we won't know for sure until wmc or most likely some march)

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

http://www.mobiletechworld.com/wordp...owsmobile7.jpg

It’s starting to look like everybody’s trying to jump into the Windows Mobile rumor bandwagon lately. This time it’s Eldar Murtazin from Mobile-review in Russia who is claiming (via twitter) to have had a hands-on with Microsoft’s upcoming OS. Frankly everything he said sound shady as hell (and he always had one of the worst track record when it comes to WinMo, he for example claimed that it was based on the Windows 7 kernel at first and then back to WinCE and that development was “stopped” last year…). He goes on to say that WM7 isn’t compatible with previous WM apps (which is quite possible), that the UI is in someways similar to the Zune HD’s but then says that it also looks like the early WM7 mockups we have seen (they don’t look like the Zune HD UI at all so.. WTF?). He then claims that it won’t be out this year (even thought we have LG who, as recently as yesterday supposedly said that they will have a WM7 phone in September 2010). HE then claims that those early WM7 mock ups we saw back in January 2008 are WM6.5 mock-ups (again WTF? The first page of the document has the Windows Mobile 7 logo that you can see at the top of this news and WM6.5 didn’t even exist back in 2007!). Finally, according to Eldar WM7 is a pale copy of Android 3.1/3.2 and the iPhone (so I guess he also had the chance to play with the future iPhone OS and Android 3.X ?) Check out the whole thing here:

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 8.12; MSIEMobile6.0) Sprint T7380)

I'll be less concerned about losing backwards compatibility if wm7 can provide a solid program development structure a la iphone and android... since we're dealing with MS I have my doubts they'll take it where it needs to go on the app side.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

No backwards compatibility- what a wonderful way to piss off your legacy customers! If this is true, count me out of this "upgrade". This would be an okay move if they offered WM7 alongside traditional WM, but not as a replacement. I'm not gonna give up the apps I've been using for years just to switch to something that's incompatible but *prettier*. New is NOT always better. I was a faithful Palm user for years until they switched to WebOS. I had hundreds of Palm apps that I loved & used daily, and I wasn't about to buy a device I couldn't use them with. Palm was a worthwhile offering until they abandoned Garnet, and now they're the lowest rung. I don't get why companies do stuff like this, most people don't like sweeping changes. Yeah, WM7 might be new & improved, but you have to learn a whole new OS & have to find alternatives to the apps you've used for years. Eff that. I don't like the way mobile software is going these days, I don't want all-touch interfaces & cloud storage & app stores. In my day, we had 10 different buttons surrounding our screens and 500mhz processors. We had to use a stylus for everything, and gosh-darnit WE LIKED IT!

~sigh~ I'm just old. I hate change.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

I guarantee you that WM7 will be back words compatible. I think Microsoft learned their lesson when Vista had problems and consumers were mad. Same thing with WM7. Keep in mind, the reviewer had an early stage OS, it probably wasnt meant to do anything but show off the UI.

Just my two cents.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

Kinda disappointing, but I understand if they left out BC. If they wrote it from scratch, I suspect it would be too resource intensive to add some semi-simul components to it for the old stuff...

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

< is he surprised by any of this? hells no!
Why everyone else is I have no clue. Its being built from the ground up. Early reports suggested there would be no backward compatibility and unfortunately that is something we all have to realize...so gone are the millions of applications made over the past 3-5 years by prominent developers...

though
It would be a great idea to make an external application to port the cab files to the new file format...
though in all honesty thinking about it a bit further, I find that there is some application backward compatibility with wince 5.2 and wince 6.0. That isn't to say that windows 7 is based on wince 6 no we all know its not. But it is a shot that not all hope is lost with a bit of hacking and a lot of energon - er I mean energy sorry there...seemed a bit...anyway...android 3.1 doesn't even exit yet...I hope he means 2.1 for sure! Or that raises my BS detector by over 9000!

Intriguing read nonetheless we won't know what's up with redmond till february. But you have to think about this logically

every seemingly confirmed leak or information about wm 7 has been pulled from the net except sparse bits and pieces that is incorrect. So we won't know what happens till we see it and get our hands on it so come on xda devs or (even better) con
give us some good news

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

im baffled of the people that are surprised by this....

besides, Palm WebOS has a Classic emulator to use the thousands of PalmOS apps that were available. Maybe WinMo will have the same thing so we can use all our apps within 7

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

^That is true. Would make MS look bad if they didn't put one of those out.

The Classic Emulator came out after the phone did though, right?

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

but if they dont offer BC.. think bout it..how many devs are gonna jump to it in the beginning? It might be the palm pre all over again.. waiting and waiting for apps to appear..not sure bout u.. but im not gonna use a new phone and have to wait half a year for apps again... think bout the millions of wm programs out there,, and hacks,,, etc.. its gonna take along time to build that back up for wm 7... but this is ms so who knows..lol

they might just be throwing these rumors out there to get an idea of how people will react to change..

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

I also used Palm for years and had accumulated a fairly large list of applications routinely used. When I made the permanent move to WM, a look for similar applications was for the most part successfully done and I also purchased Style Tap. Well, Style Tap was installed on each successive device and to this day is rarely used. Style Tap does bridge the gap; however, it's compatibility has issues. The move for me involves compatibility with MS applications and HanDBase, the rest I can suffer with.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

I hated the stylus, but loved the simplicity. When the 5-way became the rage, productivity was so much better. The reasons I moved to WM: multi-tasking (a pain at times due to the loss of productivity and the once in a while loss of data), the loss of data when exiting applications (HanDBase especially) and the tendency to reset with problem applications). I currently use a Centro and because it is no longer my primary device, the customization I have done with it is zilch. HanDBase is stable with it.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

I'd be shocked if they lose backwards compatibility. One of the major things about WM is the software, I'd bet if you searched out all applications that run on Windows Mobile (things from PocketPC 2000 +)I'd bet it would beat out the iphone list.

A bunch of them won't run due to display res but, most of them should and other minor issues but, over all most of them should run.

It's just like Windows... I still have on a CD (ripped from floppies), a Windows 3.1/95 Monopoly game, it was just very simple, small and it works. I installed it on Windows 7 the other day, guess what, it still works.

I'd deal with it if it happend but, would not be happy about having to rebuy all these apps (games, apps, etc)

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

That guy has been dead wrong before, don't jump the gun.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

I think it's probably better for the OS to drop everything and move on the the next generation IF what they come with as a replacement is good. There were lots of apps for WM before, but damn, they were scattered haplessly all over the web.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

just like all the good, free iPhone apps

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

come people! If he said it was compatable the same people would have complained that that the OS wasn't built from the ground up and is too similar to what we have now. This is a good thing if it's true.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

lol exactly.. people like to gripe..esp bout microsoft and sprint.lol

whatever ms does.. im sure it will be worth the wait.. lesson learned. windows 7..

we just dont need a vista on the mobile platform.lol

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

If microsoft came out with a tutorial to easily port Iphone apps to WM 6.5, then i can see them also coming out with a way to easily port WM 6.5 apps to WM 7.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

lol ya then apple would have another reason to sue someone.lol

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

Instead of constantly getting sued by everyone else!

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

hate to burst ur bubble but i posted this before u did bro....check the time stamp on urs and mine is a minute ahead...

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

Why even say this?

He was typing it while yours popped up.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

lol. imtjnotu can't win today. He's just responding to sprinttouch666.

I wonder if he means they wouldn't install or if it gave an error. An error might just mean certain stuff is missing in his super early build. Like trying to run any modern game without Direct X installed. Easy fix. Course if hes just making stuff up then I guess it doesn't matter.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

because he went into the thread i created and did it.....:evil4:

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

oh, then he's a dope.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

lol trying to cause forum drama...oh no girlfriend:evil4:

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

Considering this was a minimally featured build tested, I wouldn't be surprised if MS has a virtual machine to handle backwards compatability, if its really true that its not supported natively. I'd be really surprised if MS didn't support older apps as they have always stood for backwards compatability on their other platforms.

At the same time, I can understand why MS wouldn't want mainstream users to use legacy apps on WM7 simply because they're in general not up to par graphically and finger friendly-wise. They don't want to flaunt that old baggage. I know it may not necessarily be old baggage to power users like us, but old baggage to new users they're trying to attract.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

But business users need that old model because their networks are based on it. You have to be business-friendly in order to dominate the business market. Making a phone into a finger-friendly Zune-like device with no file-structure/registry backbone will kill Windows Mobile's money-making business model.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

so does this mean 7 will have its own different app store?

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

This is a very good reason why Win7 IS backwards compatible.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

i think it will be BC in the end with the current store and apps but if its build from scratch i couldnt be sure

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

I see this as a good thing. MS is no longer putting a new shade of lipstick on the ole' pig. This means WM7 is a clean sheet design, and won't be held back by having to support old legacy apps. Like others have mentioned, MS may make an emulator to allow the old apps to run. But most smartphone users are not power users like we are. They probably didn't use a previous WM device, or if they did, they weren't downloading apps, cabs, flashing roms, etc. There are plenty of users who are brand loyal, and will stick with MS, no matter what. Same with Android/Palm/Apple. The rest, which comprises the bulk of cell phone users, couldn't care less about what OS is running their phone. They just want something that is easy to use, and gives them a fun experience. And if it looks nice, well that's just a bonus. As long as WM7 is the 3 things I just described above, they will have a hit. Plus, WM 6.5.X (6.6?) is becoming a much more finger friendly os, so business users/loyal MS followers can use that, and all their old apps will be right there waiting for them.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

i also think this is a good thing, like its been said this means its a clean slate and the new os wont be so old and "square looking" and the apps will be crisp and "rounded" if that makes sence. the old windows apps if looked at look like old dated software. maybe the new apps w the os will be crisp and new age looking. it makes sence in my head but i dunno if ive might have confused a few. lol

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

Hate to be the bearer of bad news? lol But I think this rumor is false.

Information I'm receiving says it runs 6.x apps so long as they are the same resolution.

Trying to get something more solid on this, but I don't think it's going to be a big deal.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

I personally think this is just a rumor myself. Don't think MS could afford to pull a move like this one, this late in the game at least.
~mike

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

It will be based on Windows CE. Even the Zune HD is Windows CE at it's core. It will be binary compatible, no doubt about that. There's no way MS develops a new kernel for WinMo 7.

Now will everything work? Probably not. I'm sure they'll have a new sensor SDK and probably a new location system. There will likely be gesture support, etc. Not sure if they'll support WinForms. If they don't it will break a ton of apps. Honestly I don't see why they wouldn't. Winforms will no doubt be a component of Windows CE 7 (there's no way they ditch it entirely as enterprise/embedded apps will no doubt still use it). That doesn't mean they will use Winforms in their interface. I wouldn't be surprised if it is XNA driven with some variant of Surface API's thrown in for gestures. They'll probably support XNA for development, similar to Zune HD if not the same exact code/APIs as the Zune HD. Basically I'm thinking there will be a LOT of copy/pasting from the Zune HD to WinMo 7 except WinMo will retain full .net compact framework support.

As for the rumors about 2 versions... the "enterprise" version will probably just be WinMo 6.5/6 or whatever number they feel like giving it while WinMo7 will be based on CE 6 or 7 (WinMo 6.5 is still based on CE5 while ZuneHD is 6). CE7 will be out later this year so they may just go ahead and use that.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

Yep. If they did drop BC, that would be an epic foot bullet to the progress MS has made establishing it as a mainstream platform. So.. start over and be Waaaaaay behind iphone and droid? They can't be that stupid!

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

Definitely a suicidal move if they killed BC. It sure didn't work for Palm. I don't really see what's so terrible about legacy WinMo anyway, I dunno why everyone keeps crowing for a 'new & improved' OS(AKA an iPhone/Android clone). If you want shiny & pretty, get an iPhone or an Android phone. If you want robust power, versatility, and hackability, go WinMo.

Re: Early WinMo 7 not compatable w/ our current apps
 

Its funny Iam trying to figure out how this rumor started? Microsoft said some new games and apps will be made with Netcompactframework4.0 . So if WP7 support netcompactframework, why would it not be backward compatible. I did research on this as Iam a developer myself